Lyceum ousts Letran to clinch back-to-back CCE titles

There was no sweep but Lyceum of the Philippines University still emerged victorious against Colegio de San Juan de Letran, 3-1, to rule the Collegiate Center of Esports (CCE) Season 2 championship round on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Music Hall. 

The Cyberknights were dominant in the opening game with Kurt “Xeero” Pugao (Carmilla) leading the way with seven kills and 14 assists against just one death while Jade “ImbaDeeJade” Mercado’s Beatrix  amassed a whooping 121,713 damage dealt in the game as Letran made it a 1-0 series lead. 

But the defending champions were quick to regroup, winning the next three games to bag back-to-back CCE titles. 

The now two-time season MVP Mark Kenneth “Mark” Delos Reyes took Carmilla in Game 2 to pour a 3-0-7 KDA while Remarch “LUST” Eusebio pulled off a 7-0-5 outing as they leveled the series to one game apiece. 

The Pirates never looked back since then as Lyceum completed yet another championship run. 

“Naging mindset lang namin, reset lang. Inalis namin sa utak namin 'yung game one na walang nangyari, di natalo, and then at the same time nirespeto namin 'yung kalaban kaya sa tingin ko napunta sa'min 'yung panalo,” Lyceum team captain Paul “Fae” Huang said. 

“Sa'min normal na 'yung lumalamang 'yung kalaban, basta nasa situation kami na andun, lamang 'yung kalaban, 'di namin sinusukuan, 'di kami nag-doubt kaya after nung nangyari nung turn around, tinuloy tuloy na namin.” 

With another successful season, CCE president Stanley Lao and commissioner Waiyip Chong were grateful with how the tournament has grown as it has partnered up with the giants of esports like the MPL and Huawei.

“I’m really ecstatic with the turnout of Season 2. I’m very happy seeing how all schools prepared for this tournament, everyone definitely improved but at the end of the day, it’s still Lyceum,” said Lao.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA Integrated News